Box Office Report of the Week of August 13

With Gran Turismo being moved to August 25 at the last minute, Barbenheimer is again enjoying another week with no signs of slowing down! The Neill Blomkamp-directed adaptation of Polyphony Digital’s game did have some advance screenings over the weekend, but the true test will be when the film releases wide. As for now, Barbie and Oppenheimer are our numbers one and two films of the week, with Christopher Nolan’s biopic claiming the second spot after Meg 2: The Trench briefly dethroned the film last week. Additionally, Oppenheimer is expected to finish its run at $900 million. Incredible.

Word of mouth seems to be taking a giant bite out of Meg 2’s box office, as it dropped to 57% and fell to fourth place, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sitting at third. The positive word-of-mouth seems to work for this one, though I doubt we’ll see a sleeper hit à la Elemental. Still, time could be favorable for the Turtles as the slate dries up for family-friendly fare post-Barbie in the next few weeks. 

Our only new release this weekend is Universal’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which predictably bombed, beginning its run in sixth place with a $6.5 million tally out of a $45 million budget. I could’ve told you many months ago that it would’ve tanked based on the title and Universal’s desire to market it barely. As cheesy as the title Boat Dracula could be, it would’ve been better than The Last Voyage of the Demeter. 

It’s a mouthful, but it tells nothing about the movie. Yes, those knowledgeable about Dracula will know, but what about the average moviegoer? I doubt they even knew the movie existed in the first place. Unlike Gran Turismo, whose trailer played in front of every movie I saw since it came out (even Elemental), The Last Voyage of the Demeter had one trailer with little exposure beyond horror movies.

On the other hand, Talk to Me is holding surprisingly well, as more moviegoers are seemingly ditching mainstream horror movies in favor of independent horror, having only dropped at 19% this weekend with a $5.1 million tally. It’s already made its money back, so no wonder a sequel is currently in the works. 

Here’s the full list of the top ten films of the week:

1. Barbie (Warner Bros.): $33.7M (-36.4%) – 4,178 theatres
2. Oppenheimer (Universal): $18.8M (-35.4%) – 3,761 theatres
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount): $15.7M (-43.8%) – 3,950 theatres
4. Meg 2: The Trench (Warner Bros): $12.7M (-57.7%) – 3,604 theatres
5. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (Universal): $6.5M – 2,715 theatres
6. Haunted Mansion (Disney): $5.6M (-39.1%) – 2,379 theatres
7. Talk to Me (A24): $5.1M (-19%) – 2,379 theatres
8. Sound of Freedom (Angel Studios): $4.8M (-36.2%) – 2,803 theatres
9. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One (Paramount): $4.6M (-29.4%) – 2,135 theatres
10. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Disney): $899.000 (-43.6%) – 790 theatres

Source: Box Office Mojo